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August 11th

Our Bible reading today in Jeremiah chapters 14-17.

A strange command from God to His prophet Jeremiah...“The Lord said to me: “Do not pray for the welfare of this people.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭14:11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Wow, apparently things can get so sideways in the covenant relationship between God and his people, that the course is set and prayers and fastings will no longer make any difference.

God actually told Jeremiah twice not to pray for unfaithful Judah. And in yesterday’s reading, we learned why. “Thus says the Lord to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water"

“Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”

"Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭13:1, 4, 7‬

Another Wow. God’s testimony about Judah’s unfaithfulness to Him was awful, was terrible, and should have been convicting. But sadly it wasn’t.

God told Judah that she was “good for nothing” at this time.

I love you and I always will, but right now I can't use you. And until that rings a bell with you my warnings of judgment will come to pass.

So we see, Judah was “made” and bought to cling to God like the linen cloth Jeremiah bought and wrapped around his waist.

Friends that is what Jesus bought us for on the cross. That we might cling, and abide with Him and no other. Jesus paid for our sins on the cross and made us spiritually alive...brand new...to do life with Him as our Savior God and no other. But instead, like Jeremiah using the cloth for burial beneath the rocks on the wave lapping shores of the Euphrates river, Judah willfully used her life and devotions for something other than what God had made and bought her for.

Oh, Lord, I've been just as guilty of that. Forgive me. Help me to desire You more and more that I might fulfill your purposes for me, not my own.

Therefore, Judah was no longer profitable to God’s purposes...at least for a season. “So do not pray for the welfare of this people, Jeremiah.”

Oh Lord, may You get my attention with far less. May You never have to command a loved one not to pray for me. I can't bear to think it.

Continuing in the text...“Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭17:5-6‬ ‭

The prophetic picture above describes a pathetic creature who turns away from the Lord. The best he has is like a “shrub in the desert”...spiritually dry, stunted, and barely alive...not much of a life.

Judah was made for more than that. And those of us in Christ are made for more than that.

O God help us not to turn from You during distress and drought, and yes COVID. Help us to cling to you and the refreshing life-giving drink that you are to us.

Have a great day